Aris toph anes

(-tof´a-nēz), the greatest comic poet of ancient Greece, born at Athens probably about the year 455 B.C. , died 375 B.C. Little is known of his life. He appeared as a poet in 427 B.C. , and having indulged in some sarcasms on the powerful demagogue Cleon, was ineffectually accused by the latter of having unlawfully a umed the title of an A then i an citizen. He afterwards revenged himself on Cleon in his comedy of the Knights , in which he himself acted the part of Cleon, because no actor had the courage to do it. Of fifty-four (or forty-four) comedies attributed to him, eleven only remain; believed to be the flower of the ancient comedy, and distinguished by wit, humour, and poetry, as also by gro ne . In them there is constant reference to the manners, actions, and public characters of the day, the freedom of the old Greek comedy allowing an unbounded degree of personal and political satire. The names of his extant plays are Acharnians , Knights , Clouds , Wasps , Peace , Birds , Lysis trat a , Thesmophoriazusæ , Frogs , Ecclesiasuzæ , and Plutus .— Bibliography : B. B. Rogers, Complete Works of Aris toph anes, with verse translation (by far the best translation); Hookham-Frere, Translation (five plays only); Couat, Aristophane et l'ancienne comédie attique .